When it comes to finding places to cut costs at cash-hemorrhaging Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB), CEO Christian Sewing has been looking at bills large and small: He recently announced that the German bank -- once well-known for its lavish holiday parties -- was even cutting out its traditional daytime coffee-and-cake Christmas reception for retired employees. The news was not received well by pensioners, nor by trade unions. But Sewing, who has been trying to steer the Teutonic ship back on course, has had to take on the role of austerity "bad cop."
However, Deutsche Bank's problems are not on the micro level but the macro, and recent reports indicate that the course change Sewing is attempting on that front is proving much more difficult.
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